Impactos das concentrações de poluentes atmosféricos e qualidade do ar nos municípios de Alagoas

Abstract

This study evaluated the spatiotemporal distribution of the impacts of atmospheric pollutant concentrations in the municipalities of Alagoas. The study used data on PM2.5, O3, SO2, NO2, and CO, with a resolution of 6 hours, from the Integrated Environmental Information System for Environmental Health (SISAM), over a twenty-year period (2000-2019). The data were subjected to applied statistics (descriptive, exploratory, and non-parametric) and spatialized via GIS based on the IDW (Inverse Distance Weighted) method. The results revealed a significant decreasing trend in the Sertão Alagoano mesoregion for PM2.5, SO2, NO2, and CO via the Mann-Kendall (MK) test. PM2.5 concentrations reached the following values: 1,191.00 µg/m³ in Delmiro Gouveia in 2000, followed by 686 µg/m³ in Mata Grande in 2001, and 999 µg/m³ in Feliz Deserto in 2002. These values violated the air quality standard (AQS) limits set by CONAMA and WHO. Annual PM2.5 concentrations violated AQS, with 20.00 µg/m³ between 2000 and 2002, according to CONAMA (10 µg/m³) recommendations from 2018 and WHO (5 µg/m³) from 2021, but were within limits compared to 1990 for CONAMA (50 µg/m³). CO, at 0.008 ppm, and NO2, at 0.0008 ppm, were low and stable, while SO2 had annual average values below the median. O3 showed a significant increase of 176.9% from 2003, but remained within AQS limits. Monthly correlation analysis shows that meteorological variables have a significant impact on pollutant concentrations compared to the annual scale, where seasonality plays a crucial role. Precipitation is effective in reducing CO and O3 concentrations, while temperature affects pollutant concentrations, depending on the region and pollutant. Control measures and public policies are essential to improve air quality and protect public health, especially in the East and Agreste of Alagoas, which record high mortality rates from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, which may have been aggravated by atmospheric pollutants. The results presented indicate the urgent need to implement air quality monitoring stations, as there are no air quality measures or reports available in Alagoas.